Cognitive Dissonance - 1475 Words

Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive Dissonance Consistency, the absence of contradictions, has sometimes been called the hallmark of ethics. Ethics is supposed to provide an individual with a guide for moral living, and to do so it must be rational, and to be rational it must be free of contradictions. When consistency and ethics are compromised, this is known as cognitive dissonance. Leon Festinger shared his brilliance with the world when he created the Cognitive Dissonance theory. Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors (McLeod, 2008). Cognitive dissonance produces an uncomfortable tension of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs,†¦show more content†¦Many individuals choose to be dishonest because of the lack of mindfulness in their spiritual walk. Mindfulness is a factor grounded in beliefs that there are many connections between the mind, body, and soul. This individual does not have the connections with himself or herself to say lying is wrong and that the consequences could end his or her career. This factor leads to extrasensory perception, which is a level of psychic awareness. This factor is often known as the sixth sense. â€Å"Human beings can attain a worthy and harmonious life only if they are able to rid themselves, within the limits of human nature, of the striving for the wish fulfillment of material kinds. The goal is to raise the spiritual values of society.† Albert Einstein. Reciprocal Relationship between Behavior and Attitudes Myers (2010) explains how attitudes and behaviors differ from one another. Attitudes are defined as a reaction toward someone or something based on beliefs and behaviors are defined as the actions taken based on certain beliefs; however, those actions taken may not be a predicator of attitudes (Myers, 2010). People are strongly influenced by the world around them, and the behaviors they exhibit are based on those social infl uences. For example, according to purpleslinky.com (2011), the top reasonsShow MoreRelatedCognitive Dissonance1266 Words   |  6 PagesCognitive Dissonance Cognitive Dissonance or mental stress which is primarily caused by contradictory beliefs, can be a common part of some peoples life’s however we are psychologically motivated to avoid situations which cause mental stress. This paper will discuss a situation and the behavior using attribution theory, the reciprocal relationship between behavior and attitudes as well as how cognitive dissonance theory could be used to rationalize the behavior. Situation and Subsequent Behavior Read MoreCognitive Dissonance1161 Words   |  5 PagesPsych Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive dissonance theory has been around since the late fifties. It has inspired many psychologists to figure out the murky depths of people’s minds. The theory relates strongly to decision making, social phenomenons and mental angst. Many paradigms exist within cognitive dissonance. Two important paradigms are the Belief Disconfirmation paradigm and the Free Choice paradigm. There are several experiments that have been studied that relate to cognitive dissonance, includingRead More Cognitive Dissonance Essay1280 Words   |  6 Pagessocial event. While deciding to go to the party instead, it leads me in a state of tension as the party time can be well spent on studying for the final exam next morning. This state of uneasiness or tension is easily understood as Cognitive Dissonance. Cognitive Dissonance Theory, developed by Leon Festinger (1957), is concerned with the relationships among cognitions (Festinger, 1957). In this context, cognition can be perceived as a piece of knowledge that may inscribe an element of an attitude,Read MoreCognitive Dissonance Theory1621 Words   |  7 Pagescreated the cognitive dissonance theory as an attempt to explain why people desire to have consistency between their behaviors and actions. Cognitive dissonance is the distressing mental state people feel when they find themselves doing things that don’t fit with what they know, or having opinions that do not fit with other opinions they hold (Festinger, 1957; as cited in Griffin, 2009). Thus, people are motivated to change either their behavior or their belief when feelings of dissonance arise. Read MoreCognitive Dissonance Paper1671 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction The words Cognitive Dissonance were fascinatingly interesting; therefore more research went into the origin of these two words. Both words are Middle English, which was the English in use from 12th to 15th centuries and both used in the 15th century [ (Merriam-Webster, 2011) ]. Cognitive is an adjective meaning, there is physical activity involving the mind; be it: thinking, reasoning or remembering. Dissonance is a noun meaning, when there is a tug-of- war between one’s actions andRead MoreAssignment on Cognitive Dissonance1417 Words   |  6 PagesTheory Paper on Cognitive Dissonance Theory â€Å"Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn t fit in with the core belief.† ― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, WhiteRead More Cognitive Dissonance Theory Essay1027 Words   |  5 Pages nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The theory of Cognitive Dissonance states that when individuals are presented with information that implies we act in a way that contradicts our moral standards, we experience discomfort (Aronson, Wilson, and Akert, 1998, P. 191). This is considered Cognitive Dissonance, A psychological term used to describe mental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information; arouses unease or tension; relieved by one of several defensive maneuvers:Read MoreCognitive Dissonance And Its Effect On Behavior1654 Words   |  7 PagesPeople experience cognitive dissonance when they perceive that there is a mismatch between their attitudes and behaviors. Because we are motivated to keep our cognitions consistent, the inconsistency brought about by dissonance becomes a drive that must be reduced. This is done by changing either the attitude or the behavior such that they may accurately align with each other. Eventually, the New Look model to dissonance will shift the causal path to an explanation using avoidance of aversive consequencesRead MoreThe Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Essay example877 Words   |  4 Pagestheory of cognitive dissonance started as a very simple observation by Leon Festinger that people do not like to deal with inconsistency. This simple observation led to the development of a theory that became very controversial, and it would be this controversy that propelled the theory forward. Many years of research has led to many different ideas of what cognitive dissonance really is and why it actually occurs. Festinger developed the term cognitions while developing his theory on cognitive dissonanceRead MoreActions Caused by Cognitive Dissonance Essay919 Words   |  4 PagesFestinger’s cognitive dissonance theory that asserts that we act to reduce discomfort or dissonance, an unpleasant tension, we experience when two of our thoughts or cognitions are inconsistent. Mkimmie, et al. (2003) investigated the impact of social support on cognitive dissonance arousal in their experiment, â€Å"I’m a Hypocrite, but So Is Everyone Else: Group Support and the Reduction of Cognitive Dissonance.† The psychologists aimed to test the impact of social support on dissonance by testing two